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Team Solomid has expanded it’s roster of competitive teams with the acquisition ofTeam Confound, Joining TSM under the name ‘TSM Darkness’. The team intends to compete in the 2015 NACS Spring in hopes of making it into the LCS. This marks the first semi-pro team to play under the TSM banner since 2012’s Team SoloMid EVO.

What is it like going from playing in Challenger Series to playing in international LAN tournaments? What is the hardest part to adjust to?

Kikis: As for myself, I have a lot of experience of playing LAN events even before LCS was a thing, for example 2012 regionals at Gamescom, so it’s nothing new to me. But it’s a lot different and more exciting to play in front of huge live audience, when you can feel when they cheer and get hyped, instead of online at your sweet home. It’s definitely something I look forward to and will never get bored of.

What steps do you take to adapt to the newest patch? What is your approach to the current jungle?

Kikis: Well, the most important thing is to get used to it. And to do that, you just spam solo Queue games.. To get a feel of what’s strong I try a lot of champions that I think might be worth experimenting with. If I don’t see any potential in a champion, I’ll just drop it and move on. If I think something can work I’ll use it in a scrim to see how it works in a more competitive environment. I don’t look too hard though, I don’t put pressure on myself to deliver a new pick to the audience. I won’t put team in situation that we lose purely by trying too hard to make something work.

Who do you expect to give you the hardest time in the jungle?

Kikis: It’s hard to judge skill levels after new jungle patch came out and most of the junglers didn’t play competitive games on it. But if I had to choose, I respect Svenskeren as a player the most and I think he could give me the hardest time in the jungle with his aggressive playstyle. It doesn’t mean I would fall under his grace though, I will fight to the death with everyone I meet on Summoner’s rift.

What do you like or dislike about the current state of the jungle in the preseason and what changes would you like to see heading into Season 5?

Kikis: I like the way changes are going right now. Riot is doing their best to make this role balanced and fun. I actually really enjoy 2 stacks of smite and ability to change jungle items for free before enchanting. It gives better options for farming junglers that start with purple smite, and later on they can change it back to more useful smite in team fights.

What are your thoughts on ranged junglers and do you believe they require an advanced mechanical proficiency? What is their place on a team?

Kikis: I think ranged junglers are pretty strong, but it’s hard to fit them into a team comp. A lot of the times you have mid, ad and support ranged and you need some kind of front line. They require proper knowledge and practice about juggling the minions to not lose health and also don’t let them hard reset, which slows your jungle tremendously. Though with the recent nerfs on soft resets going down to 5 I am not so sure about them anymore. That might’ve killed their viability.

What was your mindset picking TF at IEM, was it intended to be a “cheese” or is it simply something you’ve practiced and had success with? What were your thoughts going into the matchup against TSM?

Kikis: We’ve practiced TF in scrims quite a bit. It worked pretty well. A lot of damage with great CC and map control with ult. I was confident in the champion, team was confident in me and we just went with it. Of course the part that we pick it in higher rotation to make enemies think it’s a mid-laner played a big part and that was intended, but it wasn’t the sole reason to use Twisted Fate. Everyone was super pumped against playing versus TSM and we were really motivated to win that and I’m really glad we actually did.

What did you gain most from playing at IEM? What are your overall thoughts on the event?

Kikis: Most people on the team doesn’t have a lot of LAN experience, especially in front of such a huge and wonderful audience, so it was a good thing for us. We played versus the best teams from NA and we learned a lot from C9 about vision control and team synergy. The event itself was really nice. We’ve met a lot of fans of the team, signed some stuff and took some photos. (which is pretty new to us by the way, it was overwhelming).

How are you preparing for the LCS? What are your goals going into the spring split?

Kikis: Well, mainly playing the game. 7 hours of scrim daily, 1-4 hours of solo Q and some analysis/team talk and watching replays. Every day we are getting better, we know our problems and we address them correctly. Everyone has a lot of trust into each other which is really great. We are not afraid to practice picks that we think are strong and we are motivated to put up a good show in the LCS and hopefully more.

Who are you looking forward to playing against most and who do you feel is your biggest threat in the EU LCS?

Kikis: It might sound lame but I look forward against playing every team. I am curious about overall strength of EU teams and on how we stand against them. The biggest threat will probably be Elements and SK. They look really good on paper, but we have to see if they stand up to their hype.

What players do you look up to? How would you define your playstyle and how do you feel it plays into your teams overall gameplay?

Kikis: The people I most look up to are the ones that give their heart and dedicate a lot of time to league. So from Europe it would mostly be Rekkles and Froggen. Also Faker, because he is a god, and Zefa. I really like Zefa’s playstyle and love watching him play.

What is your favorite lane to gank?

Kikis: I don’t really have a favorite lane to gank. The only thing is that a lot of the times it’s hard to gank bot lane because they have more people percentage wise compared to other lanes and more defensive summoner spells.

Shout outs?

Kikis: I would like to thanks to everyone who is cheering for me or my team. The amount of support we are getting lately is huge and we are grateful for that. Also shout outs to our sponsors for helping us out and making living in gaming house possible!

After an extended trial period, Team SoloMid would like to welcome Lucas “Santorin” Larsen as our new starting Jungler. With several weeks of practice together, Santorin said he was “excited to be able to play for TSM and ready to prove [himself] to be the right choice for the team.”

Santorin is no stranger to competition. Having served as Team Coast’s jungler for multiple challenger series victories, his high mechanics and playmaking ability stuck out among the best in the NA Challenger Scene. Ready to play on a professional stage at the upcoming IEM San Jose event, he joins TSM just in time to compete against some of the West’s finest competition, including Alliance and Cloud 9.

Owner Andy “Reginald” Dinh said he was “thankful that we could get Santorin in time for our team to compete.”

Santorin is already living at the TSM house and will be competing at IEM San Jose on December 6th-7th

How have you been spending your offseason? Do you still play the game in your downtime?

Yes I do. I’ve been playing at least 3 to 8 games a day and hanging out with my friends. Nothing special.

With the conclusion of the 2014 World Championship, how do you feel about your overall performance?

I’m not satisfied that much because I know we could have done better if I did great and communicated better. I’ve been taking English classes and hope to do a lot next split.

Who was your favorite team to play against and why? Which bot lane gave you the most trouble? What did you learn most during your time boot camping and throughout the World Championship and how much do you think you improved?

My favorite team to play against is Cloud 9. They are really popular and are believed to be the best, and I want to prove that wrong. It won’t be easy because they are actually a very strong team.

I think the bot lane who gave me most trouble at worlds was Uzi/Zero. WildTurtle and I had never gotten into serious trouble in a 2v2 except against them.

I did learn how to take even just one scrim serious and what true supporting was. I think I improved a lot but I’m stuck in Korea for visa problem so I feel I’m gonna forget what I learned.

The World Championship saw the rise of Janna, being picked or banned a total of 53 times and emerging with a 62% win rate. What do you think contributed most to her popularity and do you believe she will remain a contested pick moving into season 5?

Janna is actually a good champion, but she is simple. I think top 3 S tier supports were Thresh/Zilean/Alistar at the time, but Zilean and Alistar both were must bans or you were forced to play an unbalanced game.

So the next tier was Nami and Janna, though the meta was more fit to Janna. World Championship Season 4 was poke city meta.

IEM San Jose is fast approaching. How do you plan to prepare for the tournament? Where do you feel you need the most improvement?

I’m going to continue practicing in Korea with solo queue games or high elo premade matches. I feel I still need to get better at English and communication.

Piglet was recently announced as Team Curse’s new ADC. What are your thoughts on this move and how strong do you think the Xpecial/Piglet bot lane will be? Are they your biggest threat in the NA LCS?

I like both of them but I have heard a lot about Piglet’s personality and I don’t think him and Xpecial would make a good combination. I’m actually way more worried about Doublelift/Aphromoo.

When you initially made the move to NA, how was your English? Is it difficult playing a team game with a language barrier? What did you do to overcome any communication issues? How much has your English improved?

My English wasn’t that good and even now is not great. However it has improved a lot and I continue to improve it. My team and coaches are also helping me, and I am really glad to be here.

You and Locodoco were friends before joining TSM. Is it difficult to maintain both a professional and personal relationship with someone you’ve known for so long?

I’m pretty sure he doesn’t mind our friendship when he is coaching. I think that’s the right way of doing things and hope it will continue.

You’ve been playing with TSM for several months now. What is the biggest difference playing in NA vs. Korea? Is there anything you would change about LCS or OGN format?

The biggest difference thing is people speaking English, kappa. Actually, people have so much fervor compared to Asia. They really enjoy playing the game. I don’t think format matters but LCS format gives me less stress.

What is your favorite food in the US?

In & Out Double Double burger. I like the seasoning.

Solomid would like to thank our fans and sponsors for supporting us. Shout out to Alienware, Logitech, and HyperX.

About the author: Tim Kimbirk is an eSports Journalist and writer with Solomid. Stay up to date on the latest interviews and features by following on twitter: @CaymusNoL

On December 6th to 7th, North American teams Cloud 9 and Team Solomid, European teams Alliance and Unicorns of love, a Brazilian To Be Determined team and a To Be Determined Latin American team will face off in the original BayLife City, San Jose during Intel Extreme Masters Season 9, San Jose. After TSM and Alliance were decided as the invited teams participating, a fan vote was set to determine the other NA and EU team.

The vote ended up as follows:

Note how Team Curse is 4th

Despite a strong push with the CRS Piglet hype, Cloud 9 was able to beat Curse in votes. After no official announcements on the CLG roster (except that they’re trying out players), CLG’s fanbase didn’t pull through for them either. Instead, the All-American Cloud 9 will be heading to San Jose, where they lived just last season not too far from Team Solomid’s former base of operations.

Unicorns of Love are both untested and have an interesting name, creating a lot of curiosity for them to go and compete. However, they haven’t even competed in the LCS yet, which may mean LAN jitters could be present. SK Gaming were not voted in, despite many fans wanting to see their true potential after a spoiled World Championship.

Bracket

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Final Match

A

C9

Brazilian Winner

TSM

UOL

LatAm Champion

During the first day, Cloud 9 will face the Brazilian qualified team while Unicorns of Love will take on the top Latin American squad. The winners of these two Best of 3 matches will be taking on Alliance and Team Solomid in the semifinals, respectively. Afterward, the winners of the semifinals will take each other on.
Tune in to ESL’s Twitch when the event goes live.

I’m glad I had the opportunity to visit Korea, it was awesome. The food really surprised me, I didnt expect it to be really good compared to California’s food.

You and Lustboy began playing together on an official stage in week 10 of the Summer Split. How did you feel changing supports so late in the split and at such a critical time? Were you confident you could build enough synergy to perform and make worlds? When did things really start to click in terms of synergy?

I was worried about the synergy we would have going into playoffs and into worlds, but we started to click after we started boot camping in Korea and started playing the foreign bot lanes. We started communicating a lot more and Lustboys English improved a lot during the couple weeks we played together. And I also learned some Korean to use in solo q.

How do you feel you improved over boot camp as a bot lane? Individually?

I feel I improved a lot and I think this season I will be very impactful as a player. I learned about rotations and teamplay due to the bootcamp.

Who was your favorite duo to play against during your time scrimming up to the World Championship?

My favorite bot lane to play against was definitely Mata & Imp by far. They were just so amazing at the game. They played their lanes really solidly and the mind games they played in the bot lane were so new to me; they controlled vision so well. They were defintely my favorite bot lane to play against.

Going into the group stage, how confident were you? Who were you looking forward to playing the most?

Going into groups I thought to myself if we played well we could easily get first seed in groups, but we got ahead of ourselves and ended up losing the first game to SHRC due to overconfidence and lack of preparation. I was looking forward to playing SHRC a lot because of their bot lane and Insec.

Which team do you feel gave you the hardest time? What duo lane did you feel was stronger out of the teams in your group?

SHRC gave us the hardest time because of their solid mechanics. In the group stage I really wanted to play vs Uzi & Zero, I was pretty confident going into the bot lane vs them, but I choked and ended up playing really poorly the first game, I wish I had more games to prove myself against them.

What was your preparation like heading into the quarterfinals? How do you feel you and Lustboy stack up against Imp and Mata? What stood out most about Imp?

We were too focused on what to do mid game that we completely ignored our level 1s and they just dominated us 2 games because of our lack of preparation. Lustboy & I defintely could have defeated Imp & Mata at that stage I believe. After groups Lustboy & I were improving faster than we did for groups and I actually think if it was 2v2 we could have had a good chance to beat SSW. The thing that stands out the most about Imp is his ability to rotate with his team and be at the right place at the right time.

What is your overall opinion of where NA stands in comparison to other regions?

I think NA is definitely catching up to Korea and currently I would say we’re a top 4 region.

What did you learn most from the tournament and how do you feel about your overall performance?

I learned about teamplay and objectives this tournament more than anything and I realized I was playing the game wrong until the Koreans taught me, I felt my performance could have been better hopefully I can show my improvement during the split.

Looking ahead, how strong do you believe the team can be in Season 5?

I think TSM will definitely be the strongest NA team this season and hopefully we can even do better at worlds for S5.

How do you plan to spend the rest of your vacation?

I am planning to spend the rest of my vacation playing smash bros and League of Legends, I can’t seem to stay away from video games.

Solomid would like to thank our fans and sponsors for supporting us. Shout out to Alienware, Logitech, and HyperX.

About the author: Tim Kimbirk is an eSports Journalist and writer with Solomid. Stay up to date on the latest interviews and features by following on twitter: @CaymusNoL

How was travelling between so many countries? Where was your favorite? Was it difficult adjusting to jet lag?

Bjergsen: Travelling between so many countries was something I really enjoyed, it was awesome to see so many different cultures and try a lot of different foods. My favorite was probably Korea, since it was the one we got to experience the most outside of practice times. I think fighting jetlag should only take a couple days as long as you try to keep a healthy schedule and don’t stay up for too long. You just need to make sure you resist taking naps, it can be difficult!

What was boot camp like? Of all of the teams you scrimmed, who do you feel was the strongest? What did you learn most from scrims?

Bjergsen: Boot camping was a different experience. I’ve only really had one boot camp in my life with NiP before. I think in boot camps, you figure out a lot of team problems that need to be fixed because you’re constantly practicing in a high pressure environment where all emotions come out. We definitely had some things come up, but I think we got a good hold of them which made us a better team after the boot camp was over. Of all the teams we played Samsung White was definitely the hardest, the first time we played against them we got completely stomped, but slowly worked our way up to actually contest and take games from them in scrims. The thing I learned the most is to give back to my teammates, and use my advantage to help build their advantage. If I start winning my lane I know a lot more about the options I can do to help snowball the overall team and winning the game.

Who was the strongest mid laner you faced during scrims?

Bjergsen: I think Faker and Pawn both played exceptionally well and had very little mistakes when I played them. They both know their limits very well and push them as far as they can, that’s what makes a great player.

Who was the toughest opponent you played during group stages? Did any team at the tournament surprise you?

Bjergsen: The toughest opponent was definitely Royal Club which also shows since they made it into the final. Royal has a very distinct play style and we played right into their strengths the first game which made us basically unable to win since they play that style so well. I think if anything the biggest surprise was how handedly OMG beat Najin White Shield, I was not expecting them to get a clean sweep, nor do I think anyone did.

What was your mindset headed into the quarterfinals? There was a lot of talk about the importance of believing you can defeat your opponent and how it can affect you mentally if you don’t think you are capable. Did you believe you could win? What went wrong?

Bjergsen: It’s a difficult thing to say, I do believe we had a good shot at making it all the way to the finals this year with the way the brackets worked out. But obviously we failed to deliver and I can’t blame that on anyone else than us.

Reginald and Locodoco kept making sure that we all believed we had a chance at winning, no matter how small it was. I definitely agree if we didn’t believe we at least had a chance at winning there was no way we were going to win. I think everyone in the team knew they were the better team, but we still had ways to beat them, and we could still show up big on the day. I personally believed we could win, and I think for the most part my teammates believed we had a chance as well.

What is your overall impression of the tournament so far?

Bjergsen: I think the way Riot has handled the tournament and the players has been really good and I very much enjoyed finally being a part of Worlds. I was also very happy that the wildcard teams ended up having such a big impact, even though it was to my good friends in Alliance. It really shows that you can’t just expect a win against these wildcard teams, they can take you on any given day.

What is the biggest thing you’ve learned from playing internationally?

Bjergsen: The biggest thing I’ve learned is how to be able to work together as a team and how to play for the benefit of the team. One player shouldn’t have to perform extraordinarily to win, everyone just has to have a solid performance and everyone helps each other out to have a solid performance. It’s a team game and Samsung White really shows that; they win together.

Amazing recently stepped down from the starting lineup. What are your thoughts on his departure? Moving forward, what are you most looking for in finding a replacement? What do you think most fits your and the team’s needs?

Bjergsen: Of course I’m really sad Amazing decided to leave the team. I shared rooms in the hotel and housing with him through the entire boot camp and he became a good friend of mine in the team. I do understand all his reasons for leaving and I can’t be upset at him, I hope he finds a place where he’ll be happy and has an escape from League every once in a while.

The main things we are looking for in a jungler would be mechanical skill, communication and work ethic. Obviously it’s really important to have good mechanical skill as a jungler for champions like Lee Sin, etc. Communication as a jungler is very important since you have to be in a dialogue with all 3 lanes at the same time to know where to be and what to do next. Work ethic is a global thing you would want from every member in the team, but it’s very important to me. It’s important the player is motivated and willing to constantly improve through solo queue and replays.

Prediction for the Finals?

Bjergsen: I have to go with White, they’re an amazing team and will likely 3-0 Royal if they do their research.

Solomid would like to thank our fans and sponsors for supporting us. Shout out to Alienware, Logitech, and HyperX.

About the author: Tim Kimbirk is an eSports Journalist and writer with Solomid. Stay up to date on the latest interviews and features by following on twitter: @CaymusNoL

Team Solomid’s jungler, Maurice “Amazing” Stückenschneider, has opted to step down from the starting roster of Team Solomid and continue his career back in Europe. Maurice, only 20 years old, flew halfway across the world to join Team Solomid. After spending half a year playing in the NA LCS, he decided that life in Los Angeles is not for him. He prefers to play in the EU LCS where he is amongst his friends and family. Although Amazing has been an integral part of Team Solomid’s success in the summer split of the NA LCS and the world championships, the separation is amicable between both parties.

“Working with Maurice has been an amazing experience and I was very glad to have him play for our organization. He was a huge part in our success this season and I wish Maurice the best of luck. I truly believe that he’ll find success within any organization.” – TSM Team Owner, Andy Dinh.

“No team has ever inspired me more to become more skilled, smarter and overall just better at my individual role than TSM, thanks to the coaches, but especially the players who all have the drive to be the best. I am sad about leaving this type of environment, but I’m equally excited to be back in the country I was born and raised in. I will never forget the chance that TSM gave me, and I will never forget all the great moments we all had together from the early season struggles to becoming a top 2 team in the west. But it is time for me to move on.” – Maurice “Amazing” Stückenschneider

With his departure, Team Solomid is now on the look out for new talent to fill the position. The team will be looking at mechanically strong high ranking challenger players and former NA LCS players. Tryout starts Oct 20th. More details will be released at a later time.